Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Tribeca ’14: Supermensch

You
have to have a real Zen-like attitude to successfully manage Alice Cooper. The
drugs did not hurt either, at least in the early years. Starting with Alice
Cooper (the band), Gordon expanded his roster to include clients like Anne Murray.
You could call that a career. It certainly provides plenty of anecdotal grist
for Friend-of-Shep Mike Myers’ affectionate portrait Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (trailer here), which had a special
Tribeca Talks screening at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

In
true 1960s fashion, Gordon started managing Alice Cooper as a cover for his causal
but considerable drug-dealing income. When law enforcement started getting nosy,
he decided to make management a full time gig. The early years were tough, but
Cooper (the man) gives Gordon credit for eventually making good on all the
motel bills they skipped out on.

Eventually,
Gordon’s long-term strategy—make parents hate Alice Cooper—paid off handsomely.
Gordon would subsequently manage Murray, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass,
and Groucho Marx (the latter more as a fan’s act of devotion than as a
money-making concern). Perhaps the most eye-opening sequence explains Gordon’s
role kicking off the celebrity chef phenomenon, making Emeril Lagasse and
Wolfgang Puck rich and famous in the process. Of course, Cooper plays a central
role in Myers’ profile, which makes sense both from a biographical standpoint
and as an endless source of good material.

As
it happens, Supermensch is one of
three interconnecting docs that played at this year’s Tribeca. Obviously,
Gordon appears in Super Duper Alice Cooperand vice versa, but Cooper also briefly appears An Honest Liar, explaining the Amazing Randi’s role devising the
guillotine routine for his stage show. All three are entertaining, but Super Duper’s rock & roll attitude
combined with its Jekyll & Hyde psychoanalysis is ultimately more
compelling than the breezy show biz vibe of Supermensch.
By the way, if Gordon and Cooper had a connection to Bob Weir it did not come
up in The Other One.

Regardless, the first-time director clearly had
no trouble getting his fellow FOS’s to talk. Just about all of it is pretty funny
stuff. Occasionally, Gordon gets serious, but Myers never lets that last,
keeping things snappy throughout. For the post-screening discussion, Michael
Douglas (another FOS) interviewed Gordon, eliciting more reminiscences. Frankly,
a good number were repeats from the film, but you could say they were observing
rock & roll’s “greatest hits” tradition. A pleasant source of bubbly, low
calorie laughs and nostalgia, Supermensch
is recommended for Boomer rock fans and aspiring talent managers. A
crowd-pleaser at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon also screens tonight (4/30)
and Friday (5/2) during the San Francisco International Film Festival.

About Me

J.B. (Joe Bendel) works in the book publishing industry, and also teaches jazz survey courses at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He has written jazz articles for publications which would be appalled by his political affiliation. He also coordinated instrument donations for displaced musicians on a volunteer basis for the Jazz Foundation of America during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Send e-mail to: jb.feedback "at" yahoo "dot" com.